Hello and welcome to episode 136 at the end of another crazy week in the wonderful world of LinkedIn!

I have spent this week working in the beautiful and sunny Costa Del Sol, it’s my annual escape from the wet and cold of England at this time of year.

LinkedIn have now said that the version of the new desktop UI I have is actually in ‘beta’ ie it’s not ready for general release…..you don’t say!!!

I covered this extensively in last week’s episode and don’t intend to cover too much more now because it’s clear that things are likely to keep changing.

I did mention recommendations which have improved. You can now see ‘given’ and you can now recommend and asked to be recommended and the option to edit your recommendations has returned although this still needs some work.

It’s very frustrating to be in a position to spot omissions and bugs and not have anyone (sensible) to report them to!

New Company Pages

The new design of company pages are now being rolled out, all admins should see the new design.

As far as I can see, the functionality is pretty much the same but the design has be refreshed. One change that will effect all admins is the need to upload a new background image to all company and showcase pages.

Advanced search

I see the removal of advanced search as the key test as to whether LinkedIn have correctly judged the difference between the hunters and the hunted (see episode 134 for more information on The LinkedIn Paradox).

The key question here is on the fringes between hunters and the hunted. LinkedIn need the regular users (the hunted), without them they are nothing and the super users (hunters) have no reason to be on LinkedIn either.

Super users just need to upgrade, no question. But if regular users feel they are being pushed towards upgrading then we all have a problem and LinkedIn have messed up big time!

Do regular users feel they have a need for advanced search?

Have LinkedIn misjudged the definition of a regular user?

Only time will tell but it’s a big call by LinkedIn.

No More Boolean Searches!

Irina Shamaeva broke this story this week. Apparently LinkedIn are dropping the ability to search via boolean from all but it’s top level Recruiter accounts.

Another example of pushing Recruiters to pay more for LinkedIn….the squeeze continues!

Read the excellent article below.

Boolean Is Dead. On LinkedIn Only

LinkedIn Salary

This is a very exciting new feature from LinkedIn and potentially a game changer for recruiters!

Individual users on free accounts in the UK, Canada and US can now check the average salary and benefits for their job (or one they are applying to) against other LinkedIn users.

To do so, however, they need to enter their own compensation information (this will be kept confidential)

This is a fantastic idea, give people highly valuable information but ask for their data in return, thus increasing the quality of the data!

IN addition, and most importantly Recruiters using a Recruiter premium account will be able to add salary as a filter in their searches - genius!